Piglet feeding device



Dec. 28, 1954 LUTHER 2,698,004

PIGLET FEEDING DEVICE Filed Aug. 2, 1952 4 Sheets-Sheet l 3nventor H. G-.LUTHER Dec. 28, 1954 H. G. LUTHER 2,698,004

PIGLET FEEDING DEVICE Filed Aug. 2, 1952 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 -SYMMETRICAL ABOUT CENTER LINE 23 '3 4-4- Inventor H.G-. LUTHER axurM .CM

*0 Citfomeg I- Dec. 28, 1954 Filed Aug. 2, 1952 \Q-SYMMETRICAL ABOUT CENTER LINE I H. G. LUTHER PIGLET FEEDING DEVICE LO l0 4 Sheeis-Sheet 3 nventor l-LG. LUTHER attorney Dec. 28, 1954 LUTHER 2,698,004

PIGLEIT FEEDING DEVICE Filed Aug. 2, 1952 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 'l ig. 4

3nventor H. G. L. UTHER United States Patent Ofi 2 -3190 PIGIQETFEEDWG Herbert G. Luther, Baldwin, N. Y., assignor to (Blips; Pfizer & C0,, Inct, Brooklyn, N; Y;, a corporation of Delaware App ic tion Angust 2.19%.Ssrialznloaoasza laims.- itlh mar-1.),

insisted 1. or P1 i.

pisstsnh mats alt lbo e. enti ed P becomes "of ex me, mport nati ir i lst' desire to. ma .t his p 1 possible, so as to decrease the; amount essary. Also, by means of the present invention the total amount of feed; which must be fed a pig: its sow before the p ten be marketed. is. decreased. This is of obvious importance today with the present- World shortages in, grains such as corn, wheat and the like.

It; is'an object of the present ntion to prgduge a Pi le t edih i i Whish s 1y dantt l to j b p s t atte th- A to rai e pigsfuntil'theyare ready o, ft: for the selves t d. .qus htt Q istt s ts. t-101iv is to Prod e Piglet d devise Whi. t e used to peed p e te m n qtss Q b s andother. objects'of the invention wil ;apparen t .firorp the following detailed" description when consid coninndtionfwith the accompanying drawings, in

'ii s s: v1 sho i qit i vice; according to this "invention;

Figure 2 shows anger elevational view partly in vertical transverse section-taken along-line 2-2 of Figure 1;

Figure 3 illustrates a rear elevational view partly s t y' vertical. qti h t kes. signs 19.9 -s at ure eh; s n. at a: de-

Figure 4 sets forth an enlarged vertical section of one corner of the device taken along line 4-4 of Figure 1; and

Figure 5 gives a detailed perspective view of one corner of the device illustrating the manner in which a container of synthetic milk is mounted on the device for maintaining a supply of food in the feeding trough.

Referring now to the drawings it is seen that the device comprises a cage-like structure placed upon two front legs 11 and two rear legs 12 which project from the floor on which the feeder rests to the top of the individual feeding section. Cross members 13 and 14 hold these legs in assembly relationship, and serve as the supports for the various other parts of the feeder, as will be shown.

The side and rear walls 15 are formed of upper sections 16 composed of coarse screen, and lower sections 17 of imperforate metal. Obviously other ventilating means besides screen wire, such as vertical rods or the like, can be used for the upper section of the device 16. The lower section 17 can be replaced with various other perforated materials so as to allow a degree of ventilation. However, the openings in this lower section should be small enough so that it is impossible for any part of a piglets anatomy to become stuck therein.

The bottom of the feeder is composed of a screen 18 which rests at the rear of the device on supporting members 19 and at the front of the device on hook-like members 20 attached to the legs 11, as is best shown in Figure 1. It is to be understood that the perforated bottom 18 should not contain any openings which would catch any part of a pigs anatomy. A simple perforated plate may Patented Dec. 2 8, 1954 be used for this bottom, although a somewhat. coarsev tr e is Pr fer e for t is pu pose.- Immediatelyheitath thestrsen 1 the e ar posi i ned Q- trays 2- h c t st n suita le. support ng me bers- Zl a range he efo in th structu e 1.0. Th p rpo these trays i l e mor fully exp ined. la r,

The tsp f thest cture 1111 is most o ven e lyqrme shin et l p tii- The f ont openi g 24 01 he d vi s pr vi with a at 41 f med n he: same manne a e th ide a d ear wa 9f th qhst uctionw h. an pper s reened portion AZ and a. lower imperferate portion 43. The top of thes Provided: wit projectin pins 40 i h s 2 whi lit i hin U-sh petichann s sus pended from the, topv angleirons 14. by hangerslttfi. Near he a of th a ne1sf 4 a 5109- leme 4.6: i pr ided, so as to limit the. rearward movement of thepins. 41.1 whenv he. fr nt gate is d sed n an. op n nd bs antial y hs izontal PQ l i B h lo e por n of he ga e- 1 is nhqv d ti h. miiesnond n p ojec i p s adapted o slide Wi hin guide'nl tss 3.1 int the. pen endp t o s 4. o the c annels 4;. hen he ga e sl f e and wun up so as to op n. he .f on 24 o he: e ce S ops. 48 and 46 formed inthtz hannels 44. limit the forwardmove ment o the pin 1 and he r ar ard ovement fh Bil 40 in said. channels r. pectively. The,- pins, 47 are hel by atc members; when he gate i in lo ed, po-

' .a es seen. n F u e 4 o he. drawin Atthe ea it he a i i'sn 72: a g e 5.0 is fastened so as tobe pivoted a out points 51,'formed' by attach.- ing appropriate hangers 52 to the, top angle irons. 14. he HPRQI port on 153 01 gate is she t rme f a co r creen a d the ower po in 5L4 is o me of a so id. ma eriel:- The tnminent ormation of the side end walls.v ofthe feeder apply Q th fQrmetiQn of. his g te. Du n the ope ation'of he de i e. the g te 501's. he din. an open pos tion alone hetop oft e fe de by a pin fifinquntediin ali dpenn s of. a miss 56' sari edhy side. wall 15 nd. a. bo s 58" arried by sa d at Whenthe ga e is dow nttintlosed- 'tzm hepin s: disp sed in a ined' openings of a. he 57 q gr ed, y s e wa 35: and oss 8., asish wn 111 f6 ii sbfn fl tit on or dividers, 72: separating he. tro h mtg a. s iestqf tiivi ua f edin c mpart nts or p s. Within the trough 73 there is positioned a perforated baflle plate 74 through openings in which there project upward rubber nipples 7 The front end of the trough 73 is formed in an inverted U-shaped manner at 84 so as to grasp and be hooked in position upon the upper edge portion of member 20 attached to the legs 11. All the elements of the feeder trough, including the spacer walls 72, are held in fixed relationship to one another as by welding, soldering, etc.

While many individual means may be employed to fill the trough 73 with nutrient solution, it is preferred to use an arrangement such as shown on Figure 5 of the drawings to accomplish this purpose. This arrangement consists of a separate U-shaped member 76 positioned diagonally out from the front legs 11 by means of appropriately fastened flanges. Near the upper portion of the individual feeders a bracket 77 is positioned upon the member 76. This bracket is formed so that a wire bottle holder 78 can be mounted within it and held in position. This bottle holder consists of an upper circular loop 79 and a lower handle holding wire 80, both positioned away from the member 76 by slightly more than approximately half the diameter of the common gallon jug 81. The mouth of this jug is provided with a stopper 82 and a hose 83 leading to the trough 73.

The individual piglet feeders formed in accordance with this invention are preferably stacked one upon another in the manner used to stack chicken cages, rabbit hutches, and the like. This can be done by forming the individual feeder sections so that the angle iron legs on each fit over the angle iron legs on the next lower structure. Frequently it is desirable to employ various electrical heating devices to heat either the milk in the feedabove nQtQd. in I iSPeG O he ing troughs or the entire feeder structure. Electrical mountings for such elements may be fastened upon the member 76 and positioned within the feeder troughs or other portions of the device in accordance with con ventional known manners,

During the operation of the structure 10, the gate 41 is lifted to a substantially horizontal position and then shoved toward the rear of the device, so that the pins 47 fit within the projecting open end portions 48 of the U- shaped track 44, holding this gate open. With the gate 41 in this position piglets may be positioned within the device by merely shoving them through the front opening. Of course if only one feeder is employed instead of a stack of feeders, piglets may be inserted therein by lowering them through the open top 23 of the structure. Then milk is introduced into the trough 73 as from the bottle 81, which is positioned as indicated. The drawers 21 beneath the perforated bottom 18 are used to catch any droppings from above. For this reason they are preferably filled with sawdust, shavings, or the like, although this is not absolutely necessary,

The rear gate 50 is employed to prevent pigs from backing away from the feeding trough 73 so that they will learn to eat at a trough at an early age. This gate is not absolutely necessary with the present invention, although it frequently may assist to increase the rate of growth of the individual baby pigs by keeping their heads in proximity to the feed in trough 73.

Those skilled in the art will recognize that the herein described and disclosed invention is capable of a Wide variety of modifications. Such alterations or changes are to be considered as within the scope of the present invention insofar as they are defined by the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A feeding device for feeding baby pigs comprising a substantially rectangular structure having supporting legs at each corner, a perforate bottom mounted in said structure and arranged in spaced relation above the lower extremities of the legs, side and rear walls surrounding three sides of the structure, a drawer slidably mounted in the structure beneath said bottom, a movable front gate for closing the front of said structure, means for movably mounting said front gate on said structure whereby said gate can be moved from a position closing the front of the structure to a position on top of thestructure whereby the front of the structure is open, a sectional feeding trough arranged across the front of the structure and positioned above said perforate bottom wall, a plurality of spacer walls arranged substantially in parallel relationship with the side walls of the structure and extending from the front of said feeding trough rearwardly toward said rear wall for providing a series of individual pig feeding pens within the structure, and a movable rear gate arranged within the structure forwardly of said rear wall for closing the rear of the feeding pens, whereby the pigs are confined individually in said feeding pens, when the front gate is positioned to close the front of the structure.

2. A piglet feeding device comprising a series of individual feeder structures as defined in claim 1 stacked one upon another.

3.- A piglet feeding device as defined in claim 1, wherein means are attached for introducing a synthetic milk composition into said trough.

4. A device for feeding baby pigs with a synthetic milk composition which comprises a perforate bottom wall, at least partially perforated side and rear walls, a front Wall mounted so as to be opened upwards, a feeding trough positioned immediately within said front wall, a series of vertical spacers positioned on said trough so as to form a series of individualpiglet feeding compartments, a perforate baffle plate extending the lengthy of said trough and positioned therein in a position to be at least partially submerged when the trough is filled with said composition and nipple means carried in spaced perforations of said baffle plate to project upwardly within each of said feeding compartments.

5. A device as defined in claim 4, including gate means to close 01f said individual piglet feeding compartments to provide a. totally enclosed chamber of such small size as to force the head of the piglet to project into proximity with the nipple in said trough.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 209,225 Carpenter Oct. 22, 1878 284,301 Hester et a1 Sept. 4, 1883 394,955 Butler Dec. 25, 1888 729,688 Smith et al June 2, 1903 1,402,739 Clark et al. Jan. 10, 1922 1,580,774 Barker Apr. 13, 1926 1,580,775 Barker Apr. 13, 1926 1,749,377 Eubanks Mar. 4, 1930 1,891,811 Grimes Dec. 20, 1932 2,303,615 Cobb et al Dec. 1, 1942 2,311,207 Bussey Feb. 16, 1943 2,661,800 Reichenbach Dec. 8, 1953 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 2,670 Great Britain 1912 

